Crisis leads to confusion at the top

The bosses’ desired solution to the recession is to make workers pay for it. The political class agrees, but is unsure how far and how quickly it can try to make this happen.

The bosses and politicians are worried that the expenses scandal and the general political crisis makes it harder for them to push through attacks on workers.

So, Tory leader David Cameron has let it be known that he thinks the expenses scandal will make it more difficult for an incoming Tory government to attack public services and cut benefits.

And Lord Mandelson said last week, “Britain’s business reputation remains high around the world but the damage being done to the country as a whole–that our system is not just at risk but of falling apart, that our democratic institutions are being undermined–it’s going to create real economic damage if it goes on.

“Too many are generalising about MPs as a whole and Britain’s entire political system from particular instances of wrongdoing.”

They are both right in a way. But the question is not whether Brown’s commitment to slashing services while claiming to increase spending is replaced with Cameron’s determination to slash services while whining about a “broken Britain”.

The key question is what resistance there will be to the attacks that the entire establishment is pushing for.